Rai

by Maia Starr

  "We are 10 minutes out, Director,” the pilot said to me.

  "Thank you,” I responded. We were on a transport from the capital city to an underground bunker in the mountains to have a special meeting between nations on Earth. Our small transport was not a spaceship like the ones we used for deep space travel; it was more of a flying car.

  "This meeting is very important. We have a lot riding on this,” Kyle Richardson said as he sat next to me in his expensive gray suit.

  "Yes, I am very aware of that. Why else would they gather all of us together?” I said.

  "It's because of the message,” he said to me.

  "What message, Mr. Richardson?” I said, looking at him and wondering why he knew about this message and I did not.

  "The message we intercepted yesterday from a Corillion transmission,” he said in a condescending manner.

  "And why was I not aware of this? Why do you know this and I do not? I rank higher than you do in clearance,” I said, shifting in my seat.

  He smirked and said, “and yet I am head of the security council, it is my job to know more. It is my job to know such things as soon as they happen. Then we let the rest of you know and let you deal with it.”

  "Mr. Richardson, I don't care who you are or what position you have. I order you to tell me about this transmission now. I don't need to wait for this meeting. These days, every second counts,” I said, as I stood up and crossed my arms.

  He sighed and opened his briefcase. He pulled out a black folder and handed it to me. I grabbed it and sat down, placing the folder on my lap. I opened the report and scanned the documents.

  "It looks like a countdown of sorts. But for what? What could this mean?” I asked Mr. Richardson.

  "Our analysts are going over the information as we speak. They will have another report when we arrive at the meeting. They have been pouring over the data and trying to crack the code of the transmission. They are the best at what they do. They have been intersecting and interpreting Corillion messages for years. My team will not disappoint you, Director."

  “That is good to know, Mr. Richardson, but the problem is time. We don’t have it. This looks like a countdown of sorts, which means that while your analysts are doing their fun science experiments trying to figure out what this is, the Corillion are actively doing something that can happen at any second. I need to get my team on it too,” I said, as I picked up my communicator.

  “I can assure you, Director, that I am on top of it. No need to bring in your team,” he said sternly. It was his ego. He wanted his team to have the glory of finding out this secret message, but I didn’t give a shit about glory. I didn’t need my team to solve it so that they could feel accomplished and gloat, I needed them to solve it because I needed the information for the safety of everyone.

  “I have a report in my hands that I want you to look at. Mr. Richardson and his team have been analyzing an intercepted message. It looks like a countdown of sorts. I want you all over this,” I said into the communicator to Dr. Waldrorf, my lead scientist on everything Corillion.

  “I said I have it handled!” Richardson shouted at me.

  I ignored him and kept talking over the communicator. “Yes, we are almost there. See you soon,” I said, hanging up. I buckled myself into my seat and pushed the report into my briefcase. Mr. Richardson glared at me. “Director… Director, did you not hear me? I said…”

  BOOM!

  The transport shook violently and starting falling out of the sky. There was smoke everywhere, and I could hardly see anything as I choked for air. Loud beeping sounds filled my ears, and I knew that we had either crashed or some other violent thing, like a bomb, had gone off. But I was bombarded by the chaos of smoke, sounds, and fear. Then there was a feeling of weightlessness. I felt the transport jolt, but I could not see anything. The black smoke was filling my lungs, and I was choking for breath. Then I passed out.

  When I woke up, I heard deep voices. I heard shouting, as the sound of blaster guns filled the air.

  “Check that one! She might be in there!” I heard the distinct Corillion voice shout.

  “Shit!” I scampered to unbuckle my seat belt. I did and fell out of the seat onto the wall of the transport. It was now on its side, and the entire front end was missing. Mr. Richardson lay dead at my feet. I covered my mouth to stop myself from screaming at the sight of him. I could hear the Corillion warriors getting closer. I looked around for a way to get out, but there was only one way, the ripped open end of the transport. I quietly made my way to it. Maybe I could sneak out before they came in.

  When I moved out of the wreckage, I paused in complete shock. It was as though the transport had landed in the middle of a battleground. There were bombs going off yards away from me. I ducked down, squatting on the ground. There were Corillion warriors, dominating the landscape like ants, busy firing their weapons. But they were not firing at the Earth army. Instead, they were fighting the general street cops of a small town that we had been passing over to get to the bunker. These cops were no match at all for the skilled warriors, that were twice their size in height and 1000 times more fierce. I filled with anger at the sight of it. I hated the Corillion aliens. They were nothing but alien scum, and they needed to be defeated in any way possible. They were nothing but locusts coming to pray on Earth and its people. Earth was rightfully our planet, not theirs. In my rage, I forgot that I had heard a group of Corillion outside the transport when I had been inside of it, but now I could now hear them coming around to the side that I was on. I didn't have time to think, so I ran straight ahead! I ran straight into a shootout, but I didn't care. I had to do something, and in my black heels I couldn't move very fast.

  "There!” I heard a Corillion shout from behind me. My shoe fell off of my foot and it tripped me. I fell onto the ground.

  "Cover me!” the deep voice shouted.

  "No! Sir, you are running straight into enemy fire! Stop!” another voice shouted.

  "Cover me, dammit!”

  I had scrambled to my knees and was now on all fours, trying to stay low enough to avoid the bullets whizzing by me, but also trying to get away. I turned over my shoulder to see who the hell was coming after me. The smoke was gray and thick, like a wall, and through that wall emerged a Corillion warrior. He was massive, at almost 8 feet tall, and broad with blue scales down the right side of his body. Long dark hair moved when he ran in the wind. He was running fast and running straight toward me. There was a massive blaster gun in his hand, and he was shooting his way through to me. My mouth was wide open, and I could not believe that this Corillion warrior was coming after me. Why? Why me? Something told me he was not just trying to help a damsel in distress. I suddenly came to my senses and started to crawl in the opposite direction. But I wasn't fast enough, and soon he was right on top of me.

  "You stupid human! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he shouted. As if he was trying to be a shield, he covered my entire body with his.

  "Get off of me, you Corillion scum!” I shouted as I tried to wiggle out from underneath him.

  "I am the only thing shielding you from the blaster guns! Even your own people are shooting in this direction!” he shouted, as I felt him lift me off the ground. Then he ran in the same direction from which he came. Suddenly, through the smoke, I saw 10 Corillion warriors emerge. They formed a pattern like a V, preparing a path for us to run into as they shot in the opposite direction. The Corillion warrior that carried me ran down the middle of this V. The other warriors were covering him. I was impressed with their tactical skills and understood why they were considered an alien warrior race. Because of that they were also brute, with no compassion, and were almost like animals. They took what they wanted when they wanted without feeling any remorse at all. I hated them. Now I was in the arms of one, and I was helpless to get away.

  "Go! Go! Open the door!” the warrior shouted above me, as he carried me in his arms. I did not like the sound of those words. Open the door
probably meant a door to a ship.

  "Put me down! I demand that you put me down. I order you to get away from me!”

  He looked down at me, and it was the first time that I saw his face clearly. He was very close to me. I was held hard against his chest and I could feel his scales rubbing against my skin. His brown eyes stared directly into mine, and they were framed by thick dark eyebrows. His dark hair fell over in strands on his face. He narrowed his eyes at me and said nothing. He just kept running. Of course he kept running! Why did I think that I could reason with this animal using logic? He was not human.

  "Fire the engine!” he shouted, as he looked straight ahead. I followed his gaze and saw a metallic ship with the door wide open. The Corillion warrior ran up the ramp, as his warriors continued shooting behind him, giving him cover and protecting him.

  "No! No! You cannot take me from this place! Do not put me on this ship!” I shouted at him, pounding my fist against his chest. He just continued to ignore me. Once we were inside the ship, he opened his arms.

  THUD. I fell to the ground.

  "How dare you drop me on the ground like that!” I raged at him from the floor. He ignored me. He was still a warrior in battle, and he was shouting orders to his warriors.

  "Get us out of here! Battle stations everyone behind a gun! Go!" he shouted as I felt the ship jolt as it took off into the air. Warriors were behind the controls for the guns and were shooting their way out of the battle. I could not believe what was happening.

  "Stop this ship!” I demanded, as I got to my feet, which was not easy since I was only wearing one high heel and the ship was in motion, flying wild and crazy. I put my hands against the wall trying to help myself stand.

  No one paid attention to me, especially not the Corillion warrior that had taken me in his arms. He was now sitting in the captain’s chair shouting orders and flying his way out of a massive air battle that had emerged. I noticed that we were not going horizontally in the sky. We were going straight up, and this could only mean one thing.

  "You better not be taking me out of Earth!” I shouted, as I moved toward the captain’s chair.

  "On your right! On your right! Fire!” was the response that I got from the captain of the ship, and it wasn't aimed at me. It was an order for his warrior. I looked to the right and saw the Earth army battalion approaching. I smiled. Now they would not get away. Now they were not fighting the small town police as they were a few minutes ago. The Earth army was trained to do one thing, kill the Corillion.

  "You're not getting away now! They are going to shoot you down!” I yelled as I grabbed onto the captain’s chair, trying to steady myself. That got his attention. He narrowed his eyes and looked at me and said, “If they shoot us down, then you go down to!”

  "I'd rather die than be a Corillion prisoner!" I screamed with as much pride as I could muster, with wild hair, smudged ash on my face, and only wearing one high heel.

  "That can be arranged, human!” he said as he looked at me with murder in his eyes. He hated me. I assumed he didn’t have this same hate for his human female wife. Human females of Earth meant everything to these dirty Corillions; it was the only way that their species would survive. His eyes narrowed and he looked back toward the battle, saying, “Pion, lock this human piece of shit up. I have no time for this now!”

  "What? What did you call me, you stupid Corillion ass!” I shouted at him as another Corillion yanked on my arms and pulled me away from him. I was filled with such anger that I could not control my emotions, and I tried to make my way back to him so that I could slap him. But the Corillion warrior was too strong and easily pulled me away down a narrow hallway, opened the door, and threw me in. He locked the door firmly behind me. I pounded on it. ”Let me out of here!”

  But it was no use. I turned around to see that I was in a small bedroom bunk. It wasn't a prison cell, but living quarters on the ship. There was a small bunk with a thin mattress and a small table next to it. A stool for sitting was in the corner and that’s all that was in there. There was no bathroom or sink to be had. It was very tiny, my tiny prison in space. I took off my shoe and threw it across the room at the wall. “Fuck! Shit!” I shouted. “How did this happen? This can’t be happening to me!” I shouted in anger. I couldn't believe it. I was so fucking angry and raging. I had spent all my life trying to stay away from the Corillion, and now I was going to be taken millions of miles from my planet and family and forced to go to the Corillion galaxy far, far, away from Earth. I would be forced to marry someone I hated. I could not live with myself if that happened to me. There was no way in hell I would let it happen. I had spent my life trying to figure out how to fight these jerks and take them down once and for all, because they continued to take our human females as mates and to kill our human men without any remorse. Now, I was suffering the fate that I had sought to defend so many others from that had been taken prisoner. I was now a statistic, one of those same statistics that I had looked at in my reports from Mr. Richardson. I was now a captive of the Corillion aliens. I moved back and forth in the small room, filled with rage. Then I noticed a porthole on the other wall. It was a window that was covered. I quickly moved over and slid open the shield. I couldn't believe it. Instead of seeing the blue sky of Earth, outside the window was the blackness of space. They really were taking me from Earth, and I despaired at the thought that I wouldn’t see it again. What if I never saw my sister again? We were all that each other had!

  I started to feel my eyes watering, but I would hold back the tears. I would not let these jerks make me cry. I would not be defeated. As I stared out the window something caught my eye. We were not moving into the darkness of space toward the Corillion galaxy. Instead the moon was coming into view outside the window. It grew larger and larger as we grew closer and closer. Why the hell were we going to the moon? I thought.

  We were in the gravity of the moon and shooting around to the dark side away from the Earth, when something else came into view. It was so massive that it took my breath away. It was almost a third of the size of the moon. It was the biggest mother ship that I had ever seen in my life. We had nothing like it on Earth. It could be the size of Rhode Island, for all I knew. One thing was for sure, though, and that was that it was a ship designed to take over a planet.

  "This must be it. This was what the message was about. It was a countdown to a massive invasion of Earth. There is no other reason that the Corillion would bring a ship this large, with so many, many, Corillion warriors in it. There must be 1 million of them or more on that ship. This is unbelievable,” I said to myself.

  I knew then that I had been right about Mr. Richardson and his security council team. They were too late. I blamed him for this. If I had known about that message we could have been warned about this invasion; instead, it snuck up on us and was hiding directly behind our own moon. He had really fucked up, and his fuck up was going to cause millions of human lives to be lost. It was going to cost us Earth itself.

  As we grew closer, the mothership’s bay door opened and the ship we were in zoomed directly towards it. I wasn't being taken to the Corillion galaxy like I had thought. I was being taken to the mothership that had been sent to invade Earth on a massive scale.

  "Fuck me…” I whispered.

  Chapter 2

  ZIAN CRACE – CORILLION LEADER

  There was one Corillion who was responsible for the entire Corillion galaxy, and that Corillion was me. Sure, we had the High Council that oversaw all the small matters that needed ruling, but I oversaw the High Council. I was good at everything that I did, not just combat as a Corillion skilled warrior, but also ruling with a firm hand and intelligence.

  As the leader I was fed up with the bullshit war between Earth and the Corillion galaxy that we had suffered through for years. It was because the High Council had decided many years ago that the only way to procure the human females needed for breeding, in order to continue the Corillion race, was to secretly steal them. It was not
what I had wanted, but I had been out voted and persuaded to do it their way. While they were doing it their way, though, I was secretly planning my way. My way was the only way and it was about damn time that I put my secret plan into action.

  Once my secret preparations were in place, I assembled a massive Corillion army, resources, and practically an entire Corillion city inside one of the biggest motherships that we had ever seen, in all of the galaxies that we had visited. I loaded this mothership for one thing, an invasion of Earth. Once this plan was put into action the High Council could do nothing to stop me. Secretly, I don't think they wanted to stop me. Even though they did protest, I think that they were just making a show out of it. I think they were secretly proud of my efforts and were hiding the fact that they wanted my plan to work. It was a simple plan, and one that would not only give us complete domination over Earth, but would give us an advantage over the human males of Earth for almost a decade. It was perfect. But the plan was not complete. It needed one thing; a code that we were not able to get access to, no matter how many covert operations we made to Earth. It didn’t matter seem to matter how many files of classified information we stole from the Earth counsel. However, I did learn one thing through these covert operations; something very important. The key lay with one human female, the director of the Earth counsel. That was why we set out to launch a raid and steal her. We had needed to abduct Lily Retron.